The IRIS2 Project will be completed this Fall. Suspension of HRIBF
operations following the July 2008 Operational Emergency had a
positive impact on the project for several months relative to
installation activities, but the resumption of operations and required
Authorization Basis documentation updates have slowed down some of the
commissioning activities. Nevertheless, substantial progress has been
made.

Installation of most equipment is complete. The injector and
transport beamlines are fully assembled, tested, and operational. This
includes the transport beamline 35 degree and 90 degree electrostatic
deflectors.

The modular laser room has been installed, and drilling of the 8-inch
diameter hole for the laser and utility port plug through the
9.5-foot-thick concrete shielding wall has been completed. Laser
safety system procurement is underway, and a segmented polyethylene
plug with three laser beam conduits and two utility conduits is in
fabrication.

Iron storage boxes for storing activated target ion sources have been
received, as well as the contamination control boxes. The activated
target ion source storage area outside of the target room has been
constructed. This is a concrete wall storage compartment that will
accommodate up to six of the iron boxes. A below the hook lifting
fixture for manipulating the boxes with the existing 12.5 ton bridge
crane has been tested and approved for use. Testing and programming
of the target room crane is in progress in preparation for
commissioning. Pick-up and set-down points within the room are being
finalized.

The Operational Readiness Review was not received as early as
expected, but most findings have been addressed with the primary
exception being the completion of revisions to the HRIBF Safety
Assessment Document (SAD) and the Accelerator Safety Envelope (ASE).
Although the revisions that are specific to IRIS2 are straightforward,
other revisions that are associated with our July 2008 Operational
Emergency are more complex. We are in the process of incorporating
Accelerator Safety Review Committee (ASRC) comments on our draft
revisions and expect these documents to be approved in early
September. This delay has not impacted IRIS2 stable ion beam
commissioning, but RIB commissioning cannot begin until the updated
SAD and ASE are approved.

Stable ion beam commissioning has proceeded quite well. Beam has been
transported from the target ion source through the injector and
transport beamlines into beamline 12, the existing isobar separator
beamline. The 1st-stage mass separator has been optimized for maximum
mass resolution. Mass separation of 131Xe and
132Xe has been
demonstrated, with a measured resolving power of m/Δm = 1250 (error
bars of +/-30), as shown in Figure 7-1, and we continue to optimize beam
optics components and transmission.

Figure 7-1: Screen capture of the Beam Profile Monitor (BPM) display
showing the horizontal profiles of the separated isotopic beams of Xe
at the image position of the separator magnet system. Units are
arbitrary.